Channel sounding using carrier aggregation

ABSTRACT

An example method may include a processing system of a channel sounding receiver having a processor receiving from a base station, at a location, a channel sounding waveform via a plurality of carriers, sampling the channel sounding waveform via the plurality of carriers to generate a plurality of per-carrier time domain sample sets, and processing the plurality of per-carrier time domain sample sets via a plurality of discrete Fourier transform modules to provide a plurality of per-carrier frequency domain sample sets. The method may further include the processing system aligning the plurality of per-carrier frequency domain sample sets in gain and phase to provide a combined frequency domain sample set and measuring a channel property at the location based upon the combined frequency domain sample set.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/852,628, filed Dec. 22, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,547,397, which isherein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless channelmeasurements, and more particularly to devices, non-transitory computerreadable media, and methods for channel sounding using carrieraggregation.

BACKGROUND

The spatial, temporal and frequency characterization of the wirelesschannel in various environments is called “channel characterization.”The characterization provides a set of parameters which fully explainthe medium's behavior in various scenarios. A wireless channel sounderis a device for measuring wireless channel related parameters such ascomplex impulse response, path loss, received signal strength (RSS),excess delay, or root-mean-square (RMS) delay spread, Doppler spread,fade rate, angle of arrival (AoA) and/or angle of departure (AoD),shadow fading, cross-polarization ratios, and the like as experienced bya user equipment or base station. In one implementation, a wirelesschannel sounder may utilize a directional antenna. For instance, tomeasure AoA using a directional antenna, the antenna may be turned inincremental steps to measure the RSS. The AoA is recorded where the RSSis at a maximum.

SUMMARY

In one example, the present disclosure discloses a method,computer-readable medium, and device for channel sounding using carrieraggregation. For example, a method may include a processing system of achannel sounding receiver having a processor receiving from a basestation, at a location, a channel sounding waveform via a plurality ofcarriers, sampling the channel sounding waveform via the plurality ofcarriers to generate a plurality of per-carrier time domain sample sets,and processing the plurality of per-carrier time domain sample sets viaa plurality of discrete Fourier transform modules to provide a pluralityof per-carrier frequency domain sample sets. The method may furtherinclude the processing system aligning the plurality of per-carrierfrequency domain sample sets in gain and phase to provide a combinedfrequency domain sample set and measuring a channel property at thelocation based upon the combined frequency domain sample set.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The teachings of the present disclosure can be readily understood byconsidering the following detailed description in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example system, in accordancewith the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a portion of an example receiver device for channelsounding using carrier aggregation, in accordance with the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for channel soundingusing carrier aggregation, in accordance with the present disclosure;and

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a computing device, or computingsystem, specifically programmed to perform the steps, functions, blocks,and/or operations described herein.

To facilitate understanding, similar reference numerals have been used,where possible, to designate elements that are common to the figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure broadly discloses methods, computer-readablemedia, and devices for channel sounding using carrier aggregation. Forinstance, the availability of millimeter wave spectrum for 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G deployments gives rise to manyopportunities for telecommunications services. Traditional cellularwireless communications networks, however, have not operated in thesebands.

In general, a wireless channel sounding system may comprise atransmitter and a receiver for measuring wireless channel relatedparameters such as a complex impulse response of the wireless channel, apath loss, an excess delay, a root-mean-square (RMS) delay spread, aDoppler spread, a fade rate, an angle of arrival (AoA) or angle ofdeparture (AoD), a shadow fading, a cross-polarization ratio, and thelike as experienced by a user equipment or base station. Themeasurements of the wireless channel related parameters under a varietyof test conditions enable the modeling of the behavior for these channelparameters under different scenarios and conditions, as well as thesimulation and prediction of the performance of a base station or a userequipment under such scenarios and conditions. Thus, modeling of thesewireless channel related parameters and using them in end-to-end networksimulators can guide in mapping out the details of where and how toplace transmitters and receivers in a network for the best mobileperformance and experience.

The bandwidth of a signal that is used for channel sounding givessnapshot of the channel/medium at a particular bandwidth. For instance,transmitting and receiving at 200 MHz bandwidth may capture informationabout the channel at 200 MHz. Similarly, transmitting and receiving at 1GHz bandwidth may capture information about the channel at 1 GHz. Toillustrate, a 200 MHz signal results in about 5 nanoseconds time delayresolution. However, an 800 MHz signal can be used to improve time delayresolution of the same channel to better resolve multipath.

In one example, the 5G NR base station can transmit across the entirebandwidth, e.g., 400 MHz, 800 MHz, 1 GHz, etc. of a wideband channelsounding waveform. In accordance with the present disclosure, carrieraggregation comes into play where different parts of the UE receiverprocess different smaller parts of the spectrum, e.g., 50-200 MHzcarriers, and then recombine frequency domain information in the backendto give the wideband characterization of the channel. For instance,after gain and phase alignment of different receive paths, the twofrequency domain responses are joined to provide the overall frequencydomain response.

Examples of the present disclosure may use the existing 5G networkinfrastructure that is already in the field. Accordingly, channelsounding may be performed on a large scale since every network basestation can be potentially changed into a sounding transmitter. In oneexample, equipment, waveforms, and carrier aggregation that are basedupon the specification of the considered wireless cellularcommunications standard (e.g., 3GPP 5G) may be employed so that widebandchannel models may be generated based upon channel property measurementsusing equipment with narrowband radio frequency (RF) front-ends.

In accordance with the present disclosure, a channel sounding system isdescribed that uses the transceivers and baseband processors of adeployed/in-service wireless cellular communications system for channelsounding. In particular, deployed/in-service base stations transmitwideband channel sounding waveforms, where “wideband” indicates awireless signal transmitted across a frequency range that is broaderthan a single carrier, also referred to as a “component carrier.” Achannel sounding receiver may receive portions of the wideband channelsounding waveform through several receive paths assigned to different(component) carriers using carrier aggregation (CA), and then recombinethe portions for channel property measurements in a digital back-end.

In a first example, channel sounding waveforms are inserted into blankresources of a time-frequency resource grid of a base station. In oneexample, the blank resources comprise time-frequency resources reservedby the network for future use cases, services, and/or applications.Alternatively, or in addition, the blank resources may comprise legacyreserved resources of a base station time-frequency grid (e.g., whichhave subsequently been released and are no longer utilized for thereserved purpose). The channel sounding waveforms may be based onexisting waveforms that are modified for the purpose of channel soundingor, alternatively, existing or new waveforms may be utilized that aresolely or primarily for the purpose of channel sounding. Notably, thepresent example avoids the need to deploy a dedicated channel soundingtransmitter at the base station transceiver location to sound thechannel. Instead, the base station transceiver and baseband processoritself are used as the transmitter.

As stated above, the channel sounding waveforms may comprise widebandsignals that are suitable for use in connection with carrier aggregationat a channel sounding receiver. Thus, in accordance with the presentdisclosure, the blank resources assigned to a channel sounding waveformmay span a frequency range that extends across at least two componentcarriers. In one example, the base station transceiver inserts channelsounding waveforms into the time-frequency grid, e.g., a 5G “new radio”(NR) waveform, and uses the aforementioned reserved resources to informthe UEs that coexist in the network with the channel sounder receiverabout the characterization parameters of the channel sounding waveform,such as the associated rate matching behavior and/or measurementrestrictions. In the case of time domain processing, in one example thechannel sounding waveform occupies a blank resource of thetime-frequency grid but does not have any kind of alignment with thegrid. By way of example and without any limitation, a Zadoff-Chu (ZC)sequence in the time domain may be used for channel sounding. In yetanother example, in the case of frequency domain processing, thesounding signal may be inserted before an inverse Fast Fourier Transform(iFFT) stage in the transmitter. In either case, the receiver processingcan be done in the time domain or frequency domain. In the latter case,however, the channel sounding waveform may be aligned with the frequencysub-carriers of the time-frequency grid.

In addition to the indication of the configuration of the blank/reservedresources, a channel sounding receiver may be configured with a copy ofthe channel sounding waveform/sequence which will be transmitted in asubset of the blank/reserved resources. The channel sounding receivermay also be configured with other characterization parameters, such as awaveform/sequence indication, timing indication (e.g., periodicity,offset, and the like), and frequency location (e.g., carrieridentification(s), sub-band index, sub-carrier density, grid alignment,transmission bandwidth, and so forth). These parameters may be providedby higher layer signaling (e.g., at the radio resource control (RRC)layer), via pre-configuration, or at the application layer.

In another example, a channel sounder may request an “on-demand”configuration of the blank/reserved resources and corresponding channelsounding waveform/sequence transmission. Thus, the network may conserveresources and mitigate potential sources of interference for other userdata by avoiding transmission of the channel sounding waveform/sequencesunless a channel sounder is present and actively taking measurements.This indication from the channel sounder may be performed as part of ascheduling request message, other higher layer signaling, or at theapplication layer, and may include a request for transmission of thechannel sounding waveform/sequence and corresponding characterizationparameters such as transmission duration, periodicity, bandwidth,particular carriers, sub-carrier density, transmission power, and soforth.

In a second example, a channel sounding system may use the transceiversand baseband processors of a deployed/in-service wireless cellularcommunications system for channel sounding using standardized waveforms.In particular, the channel sounding is based on waveforms that arealready available from other procedures, such as those fortime/frequency synchronization, phase tracking, positioning estimation,and channel state information estimation. To illustrate, in one example,the channel sounding may be based upon one or more components of thesynchronization signal (SS) block of the time-frequency grid of a basestation, e.g., a “new radio” NR synchronization signal (SS) block, whichmay contain a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondarysynchronization signal (SSS), a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), and adownlink modulation reference signal (DMRS), to measure one or morechannel properties, or parameters, that characterize the channel.

It should be noted that an NR SS block is typically a narrowband signal(e.g., 40 MHz) and therefore may not be suitable for carrieraggregation-based channel sounding in this form. Thus, in one example,the PSS of the NR SS block is extended in frequency to create a widebandsignal without changing the narrowband part of the PSS which a UE wouldexpect (e.g., if the UE is operating according to 5G or similar wirelesscommunications standard that specifies a narrowband PSS). Othercomponents of a synchronization signaling (SS) block, such as asecondary synchronization signal (SSS), a physical broadcast channel(PBCH), and a downlink modulation reference signal (DMRS) may similarlybe extended in frequency to create a wideband signal that is usable forcarrier aggregation-based channel sounding. In one example, thefrequency domain extension of one or more SS block components mayutilize one or more blank resources, as described above.

In one example, the measurements of channel properties may be derivedfrom multiple signals within the SS block. The time/frequency locationof the SS block within the time-frequency grid of the base station maybe blindly detected by a channel sounder as part of an initial accessprocedure, or may be provided by higher layer signaling, such as at theradio resource control (RRC) layer, by pre-configuration, by theapplication layer, etc. Notably, channel sounding based upon thesynchronization signaling (SS) block does not require the channelsounder (or “channel sounding receiver”) to implement the full physicallayer specification (e.g., for 5G NR deployment), but only the aspectsof the initial access procedure pertaining to synchronization signaldetection and measurement. This allows the channel sounder to performthe channel sounding measurements of the channel properties withouttransmitter capability.

In one example, channel sounding may be based upon one or more referencesignals, such as a channel state information (CSI) reference signal(RS). In other words, the CSI-RS of a deployed/in-service basestation/cell site may be used to measure channel properties thatcharacterize the channel. When used for channel sounding in accordancewith the present disclosure, the CSI-RS waveform/sequence may bereferred to as a channel sounding waveform. Using CSI-RS allows for MIMO(e.g., multi-port) and wideband measurements (e.g., delay spread). Moreprecisely, for CSI measurement, a base station (e.g., a “gNodeB” or“gNB” in emerging 5G terminology) may typically select a transmit beamthat is best suited for the receiver. However, for the purposes ofchannel sounding, the CSI-RS may instead be beam swept at the basestation/cell site transmitter. In this regard, it should be noted thatin one example, beam sweeping of the CSI-RS may be made part of apermitted beam management procedure defined in the specification of theconsidered wireless cellular communications standard (e.g., 3GPP 5G).If, however, existing or emerging standards effectively prevent theCSI-RS from being beam swept, in another example, the base stationtransmitter may configure reserved resources and transmit beam sweptCSI-RS for sounding purposes in the configured reserved resources. Forinstance, reserved resources are described above in connection with thefirst example of the present disclosure and may comprise blank resourcesthat are set aside for future and/or legacy compatibility.

In one example, when CSI-RS is used for channel sounding, the CSI-RSdensity can be increased by configuring multiple CSI-RS resources, allof which may use the same sequence. In other words, the CSI-RS may betransmitted as a wideband signal across a range of frequencies forreception using carrier aggregation at a channel sounding receiver. Inthis example, the channel sounding receiver can aggregate the CSI-RSfrom multiple resources to obtain processing gain. Moreover, in order toestablish over-the-air (OTA) calibration between the channel soundingtransmitter (e.g., a base station) and channel sounding receiver,multiple CSI-RS resources can be aggregated to form per-antenna-elementantenna ports, e.g., using a special analog precoder in the radiofrequency (RF) domain. In such an example, the channel sounding receivercan use these per antenna element antenna ports to estimate the phaseoffset between antenna elements.

In yet another example, channel sounding may be based upon positioningreference signals (PRS) that are transmitted by a base station. PRSs aretypically received by a UE from several base stations, and are used todetermine its position based upon time differences in the receipt of theseveral PRSs relative to reference timing signal. However, in accordancewith the second example of the present disclosure, the PRS may be usedto measure channel properties that characterize the channel. When usedfor channel sounding in accordance with the present disclosure, the PRSwaveform/sequence may be referred to as a channel sounding waveform.Similar to other channel sounding waveforms described above, inaccordance with the present disclosure, the PRS may be transmitted as awideband signal across a range of frequencies for reception usingcarrier aggregation at a channel sounding receiver.

In a third example, a channel sounding system may use the transceiversand baseband processors of a deployed/in-service wireless cellularcommunications system for channel sounding using non-randompredetermined bit sequences. In particular, a non-random/pseudo-randompredetermined bit sequence is transmitted on a shared data channel andthe resulting waveform generated from the pseudo-random bit sequence(“data”) is used for channel sounding. The bit sequence is predeterminedinsofar as it is selected in advance (e.g., by the base station) or thechannel sounding receiver. Accordingly, the resulting waveform may bereferred to as a “channel sounding waveform.” Like the first and secondexamples, the third example of the present disclosure allows channelsounding to be used during installation time (e.g., for a fixed wirelessbroadband (FWB) deployment) to determine the best location andorientation of the customer premise equipment (CPE). The third examplealso obviates the need to install a channel sounding transmitter at thebase station transceiver location to sound the channel. Instead, thebase station transceiver and baseband processor itself can be used asthe transmitter.

In one example, the pre-determined bit sequence for a channel soundingwaveform is inserted in the bit domain as a medium access control (MAC)transport block, while the physical layer processing remains inaccordance with the wireless cellular communications standard that isimplemented by the base station transmitter. To illustrate, thegenerating and transmitting of a channel sounding waveform may proceedas follows. First, the base station MAC scheduler may allocate theentire available transmission bandwidth to the physical data sharedchannel (PDSCH) of a channel sounding receiver. In one example, the MACscheduler may also set the transmit rank of said PDSCH to 1. Inaddition, in one example, the MAC scheduler may also set a modulationcoding scheme (MCS) to lowest available MCS of the PDSCH. For example,the lowest MCS level may be associated with binary phase shift keying(BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), or other modulationschemes are possible for association with the lowest MCS level.Alternatively, the MAC scheduler may not choose the lowest MCS level butanother MCS level. In still another example, the MAC scheduler mayassign a transmission scheme not associated with a precoding matrixindicator (PMI) with the PDSCH, e.g., one based on pre-coder cycling.

The MAC scheduler may next set the payload (data) part of the MACprotocol data unit (PDU) to a predetermined bit sequence. Thepredetermined bit sequence (e.g., a pseudo-random set of bits)effectively creates the transport block for that transmission timeinterval (TTI). It should be noted that the transport block bits aretypically not known in advance at the receiver. However, in this case,the transport block bits (the predetermined bit sequence) are known atthe receiver (i.e., the channel sounding receiver). The channel soundingreceiver may also store various parameters associated with thepredetermined bit sequence and/or characterizing the channel soundingwaveform that is generated from the predetermined bit sequence, such as:code rate, redundancy version, modulation level, precoding matrixindicator (PMI), resource mapping, and so forth. Accordingly, in oneexample, the entire PDSCH is a known wideband signal at the channelsounding receiver and may be received using carrier aggregation.

In another example, the base station transmitter sets the payload ordata part of a radio link control (RLC) PDU to a predetermined bitsequence (where the predetermined bit sequence is associated with achannel sounding waveform to be transmitted). In a further example, thebase station transmitter sets the payload or data part of the PacketData Convergence Protocol (PDCP) PDU to a predetermined bit sequence. Instill another example, an OCNS (orthogonal channel noise simulator) atthe base station (e.g., a gNodeB) is used to generate a pre-determinedpseudo-random sequence which is inserted into the physical layer (PHY)processing unit at the transport block level. In this example, the MACat the gNodeB may use the entire bandwidth available for the PDSCH togenerate the predetermined pseudo-random sequence and does not allocateany resources to another user equipment. It should be noted that thepredetermined pseudo-random sequence may be notified in advance to thechannel sounding receiver, e.g., via control signaling.

Other points in the protocol stack where the predetermined bit sequencemay be included as the payload or data part of a PDU or service dataunit (SDU) are also within the scope of the third example. Generally,the higher in the protocol stack of the considered wireless cellularcommunications standard, the easier the example is implementable withinthe confines of the considered wireless cellular communicationsstandard. In another example, the base station (e.g., a gNodeB) usesforward compatible blank resources that are not available to other UEs,and uses these blank resources to generate a wideband signal using theNR physical layer that is suitable for reception via carrier aggregationat the channel sounding receiver. (Forward compatible black resourcesare described in greater detail above in connection with the firstexample).

In one example, sequence numbers may not be known in advance when thepredetermined bit sequence is included as the payload or data part inhigher layers of the protocol stack. In addition, although the basestation transmitter may insert the predetermined bit sequence atdifferent layers of the protocol stack, the channel sounding receivermay process the received predetermined set of bits at the physical layeras part of the channel sounding measurement procedure without passingthe payload to higher layers in the channel sounding receiver's protocolstack. Thus, the received channel sounding waveform may be directlyprocessed within the physical layer, or may be stored/transported forprocessing in real-time or at a later time by the channel soundingreceiver or by a different device or system.

In one example, the channel sounding receiver may be preconfigured withthe predetermined bit or may be provided with the predetermined bitsequence and corresponding characterization parameters for channelmeasurement based on higher layer signaling (e.g., at the RRC layer orapplication layer). The channel sounding receiver may be provided withthe exact bits of the sequence or one or more initialization parameters,such as a pseudo-random sequence seed which may be a function of one ormore parameters including system frame number, slot index, symbol index,(virtual) cell identifier (ID), and/or user equipment (UE) ID (where theUE is the channel sounder receiver). In another example, the channelsounding receiver may be configured with a pattern or periodicityindicating the transmission of the channel sounding waveform relative tothe system timing (e.g., a radio frame). This timing indication mayinclude a periodicity, offset expressed in absolute time (e.g., secondsor milliseconds) or scheduling units (e.g., slots or symbols). In oneexample, the radio frame may be in accordance with the 5G “new radio”(NR) radio frame.

Additionally, if multiple frequency sub-bands or carriers are configuredfor the channel sounding receiver to receive a channel soundingwaveform, or channel sounding waveforms (e.g., for carrier aggregation),the configuration may include information regarding the associatedfrequency location(s) (or hopping pattern) associated with a given timelocation. Accordingly, the channel sounding receiver may attempt todetect the channel sounding signal at the configured locations and mayswitch off components of the receiver chain between channel soundingwaveform transmission instances, or may continue monitoring downlinkradio frames for normal control/data channel transmissions.

In another example, the channel sounding receiver may operate without acopy and/or characterization parameters of the predetermined bitsequence and/or the channel sounding waveform that is generatedtherefrom. Instead, the channel sounding receiver may attempt to blindlydetect the channel sounding waveform and upon successfully processing atransport block matching the preconfigured sounding signalcharacteristics (e.g., after a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) passdetection), proceed to process the sequence as part of its configuredchannel sounding measurement procedure.

The following relates to all of the first, second, and third examplesdescribed above. In one example, for purposes of calibration and accountfor unknown parameters, such as power level, antenna gain, and beampattern, for each beam sweep the channel sounding receiver may be placednear the base station transmitter/antennas in several line-of-sight(LOS) places. By sounding the channel in a three-dimensional(physical/spatial) grid up close to the transmitting antennas, thechannel sounding receiver may collect a spatially dense sample ofchannel property measurements related to channel. This densethree-dimensional information can then be used to reverse engineervarious unknown parameters, such as the power, antenna gain, beampattern of the beam sweep, and so forth.

For all of the first, second, and third examples described above, thechannel sounder, or channel sounding receiver, may comprise a userequipment (UE) that is equipped to operate according to thespecification of the considered wireless cellular communicationsstandard (e.g., 5G MIMO and/or millimeter wave). However, the UE may beconfigured with additional capabilities, including the ability to beamsweep the receive beam, the ability to log the multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO) channel response, and the ability to use the MIMOchannel response to derive small scale and large scale parameters(channel property measurements) that characterize the channel. Inaddition, in one example the sounder receiver may comprise a system thatincludes a user equipment (UE) for communications with the base stationtransmitter and a channel sounder receiver unit. For example, the UE maybe implemented via a universal serial bus (USB) dongle that allows achannel sounder receiver software to run as an application on aprocessing unit, e.g., of a computer that connects via the (USB)interface with a UE modem on the USB dongle.

With respect to all of the first, second, and third examples describedabove, the channel sounding receiver may exchange control informationwith the base station transmitter that is used for channel sounding. Inone example, the UE functions of the channel sounding receiver couldeither be of the same standard/release as the cellular base stationtransmitter that acts as the channel sounding transmitter or of adifferent standard/release (e.g., 3GPP 4G/Long Term Evolution (LTE), 5Gnew radio (NR), or other set(s) of specifications). For example, in caseof the UE being according to the specification of the consideredwireless cellular communications standard (e.g., 5G NR) but with someadditional capabilities, both the UE and the cellular base stationtransmitter that acts as sounder could be implemented according to theNR specifications notwithstanding the additional capabilities of thesounder transmitter at the base station side and the sounder receiver atthe UE side. Alternatively, the base station could be implementedaccording to the NR specifications with additional capabilities to actas sounder transmitter. However, the base station may exchange thecontrol information with the channel sounding receiver via an LTE airinterface. Notably, using the LTE air interface for the controlsignaling may increase the range of the channel sounding capabilitybeyond what would be possible if it was solely operating in millimeterwave spectrum using NR technology.

With respect to all three of the examples above, the channel soundingreceiver may not implement the entire protocol stack according to thespecification of the wireless cellular communications standardassociated with the channel for which channel properties are to bemeasured (e.g., 5G NR). For example, the channel sounding receiver mayonly implement or utilize the subset of functions that is required forthe purpose of channel sounding. In one example, the channel soundingreceiver may control the base station transmitter, e.g., by providingchannel sounding waveforms, instructions as to when and how to transmitchannel sounding waveforms, and so forth. However, in another example,the base station that is used for channel sounding may control thechannel sounding receiver. In addition, in one example the roles of thebase station and channel sounding can be reversed. In other words, achannel sounder receiver can also be integrated with a base station, inwhich case the channel sounding transmitter is integrated with a userequipment. In one example, the role of the base station can beimplemented in a second UE. In other words, channel sounding receivercan be one UE and channel sounding transmitter can be another UE. Inthis case, a direct UE-to-UE (e.g., sidelink) is used for channelsounding.

In all of the examples described herein, a channel sounding waveform maybe a wideband signal as transmitted by the 5G base station. Accordingly,in one example, the channel sounding receiver (e.g., a 5G capable UE),may utilize different receive paths for receiving different portions ofthe channel sounding waveform that occupy different channels. Inaccordance with the present disclosure, the channel sounding receivermay implement intra-band carrier aggregation and/or inter-band carrieraggregation. Inter-band carrier aggregation may comprise receivingchannel sounding waveforms via a plurality of carriers of differentfrequency bands (different sub-band). Intra-band carrier aggregation maycomprise receiving channel sounding waveforms via a plurality ofcomponent carriers within a same frequency band (sub-band).

It should be noted that following frequency bands have been proposed foruse in connection with high data rate communications of emerging 5Gnetworks: 24.25-27.5 GHz, 31.8-33.4 GHz, 37-40.5 GHz, 40.5-42.5 GHz,42.5-43.5 GHz, 45.5-47 GHz, 47 GHz-47.2 GHz, 47.2-50.2 GHz, and50.4-52.6 GHz. In accordance with this proposal, a single band may beanywhere from 0.2-3.5 GHz wide. In addition, carrier bandwidths between100 MHz-500 MHz may be utilized in connection with high data ratecommunications in such frequency bands. Thus, for example, a cellularnetwork operator using 100 MHz carriers in a 40.5-42.5 GHz band maypotentially transmit channel sounding waveforms across 2 GHz. From theperspective of the channel sounding receiver, this may span up to 20component carriers for intra-band carrier aggregation.

In addition, as can be seen in the list, some of the frequency bands arecontiguous and may be suitable for use in connection with inter-bandcarrier aggregation. In particular, component carriers from differentfrequency bands may be contiguous in frequency. For instance, a 5G basestation may transmit a channel sounding waveform as a wideband signalthat spans two (or more) frequency bands around 40.5 GHz, 42.5 GHz, 47GHz, and/or 47.2 GHz. For instance, the base station may transmit achannel sounding waveform across 42.4-42.6 GHz. In such an example, achannel sounding receiver configured to receive via 100 MHz componentcarriers may utilize two 100 MHz receive paths, e.g., one for a 100 MHzcomponent carrier centered at 42.45 GHz and another for a 100 MHzcomponent carrier centered at 42.55 GHz. Although examples of thepresent disclosure are described herein with regard to contiguouscomponent carriers (for both inter-band and intra-band carrieraggregation), in one example, a channel sounding waveform may betransmitted on non-contiguous carriers. In other words, there may be agap of at least one component carrier in the frequency range over whicha channel sounding waveform is transmitted by a 5G base station. In suchan example, the channel sounding receiver may interpolate what might bereceived if the transmission included the channel sounding waveform onthe frequencies of the omitted component carrier.

A variety of RF front end architectures may be implemented at a channelsounding receiver for carrier aggregation. For instance, the sameantenna components of the channel sounding receiver may be used toreceive signals across a range of frequency bands. However, somefrequency bands may be received using a different set of antennacomponents. In addition, in cases where the same antenna components maybe used to receive signals across a range of frequency bands, differentRF front end circuitry may still be utilized to receive signals in therespective frequency bands. For example, the channel sounding receivermay switch to different sets of diplexers/filters to receive in onefrequency band or another. In general, different receiver architecturesmay be utilized depending upon the region of the world and theparticular frequency bands over which a 5G network provider is allowedto operate, depending upon the frequency bands in which the channelsounding receiver is designed for and/or capable of operating, dependingupon the particular carrier bandwidths implemented by the networkprovider, and so forth. In any case, for carrier aggregation-basedchannel sounding in accordance with the present disclosure, the RF frontend of a channel sounding receiver may separate received signals in todifferent component signals that are routed to respective basebandunits, e.g., one per carrier.

Although examples of the present disclosure are applicable to a widerange of frequency bands, in one example, the present disclosure mayrelate to centimeter and millimeter wave systems. For instance, for allof the examples herein, the considered wireless cellular communicationsstandard can be the Third Generation Project (3GPP) New Radio (NR) radioaccess technology. For the embodiments herein, the base station can be agNB or gNodeB or base station of a 5G-RAN (fifth generation radio accessnetwork). It should be noted that for illustrative purposes, variousbase station systems are described herein in connection with particularquantities or values. However, base station systems of the presentdisclosure may include different quantities of various components,and/or operating parameters which may have any number of differentvalues. For instance, a base station system may have a different numbertransmit antennas, may have antennas with different beamwidths, mayutilize different frequencies, may utilize different transmit powers,and so forth. In addition, a base station system may include a differentnumber of antenna sector units covering a same or a different range inazimuth and/or elevation, may have sectors with different coverages, mayhave a different number of antenna elements per sector, may have adifferent desired SNRs, may utilize a fewer number of samples perantenna for a different averaging gain, and so forth. These and otheraspects of the present disclosure are discussed in greater detail belowin connection with the examples of FIGS. 1-4.

To better understand the present disclosure, FIG. 1 illustrates anexample network, or system 100 in which examples of the presentdisclosure for channel sounding using carrier aggregation may operate.In one example, the system 100 includes a telecommunication serviceprovider network 170. The telecommunication service provider network 170may comprise a cellular network 101 (e.g., a 4G/Long Term Evolution(LTE) network, a 4G/5G hybrid network, or the like), a service network140, and a core network, e.g., an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) corenetwork 115. The system 100 may further include other networks 180connected to the telecommunication service provider network 170. FIG. 1also illustrates various mobile endpoint devices 116 and 117, e.g., userequipment or user endpoints (UE). The mobile endpoint devices UE 116 and117 may each comprise a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a tabletcomputing device, a laptop computer, a pair of computing glasses, awireless enabled wristwatch, or any other cellular-capable mobiletelephony and computing device (broadly, “mobile endpoint devices”).

In one example, the cellular network 101 comprises an access network 103and a core network, Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network 105. In oneexample, the access network 103 comprises a cloud RAN. For instance, acloud RAN is part of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5Gspecifications for mobile networks. As part of the migration of cellularnetworks towards 5G, a cloud RAN may be coupled to an EPC network untilnew cellular core networks are deployed in accordance with 5Gspecifications. In one example, access network 103 may include cellsites 111 and 112 and a baseband unit (BBU) pool 114. In a cloud RAN,radio frequency (RF) components, referred to as remote radio heads(RRHs), may be deployed remotely from baseband units, e.g., atop cellsite masts, buildings, and so forth. In one example, the BBU pool 114may be located at distances as far as 20-80 kilometers or more away fromthe antennas/remote radio heads of cell sites 111 and 112 that areserviced by the BBU pool 114. It should also be noted in accordance withefforts to migrate to 5G networks, cell sites may be deployed with newantenna and radio infrastructures such as multiple input multiple output(MIMO) antennas, and millimeter wave antennas. In this regard, a cell,e.g., the footprint or coverage area of a cell site, may in someinstances be smaller than the coverage provided by NodeBs or eNodeBs of3G-4G RAN infrastructure. For example, the coverage of a cell siteutilizing one or more millimeter wave antennas may be 1000 feet or less.

Although cloud RAN infrastructure may include distributed RRHs andcentralized baseband units, a heterogeneous network may include cellsites where RRH and BBU components remain co-located at the cell site.For instance, cell site 113 may include RRH and BBU components. Thus,cell site 113 may comprise a self-contained “base station.” With regardto cell sites 111 and 112, the “base stations” may comprise RRHs at cellsites 111 and 112 coupled with respective baseband units of BBU pool114.

In accordance with the present disclosure any one or more of cell sites111-113 may be deployed with antenna and radio infrastructures,including multiple input multiple output (MIMO) and millimeter waveantennas. Furthermore, in accordance with the present disclosure, a basestation (e.g., cell sites 111-113 and/or baseband units within BBU pool114) may comprise all or a portion of a computing device or system, suchas computing system 400, and/or processing system 402 as described inconnection with FIG. 4 below, and may be configured to provide one ormore functions for channel sounding using carrier aggregation, and forperforming various other operations in accordance with the presentdisclosure. For instance, cell sites 111-113 and/or baseband unitswithin BBU pool 114 may be configured to perform functions such as thosedescribed below in connection with the example method of FIG. 3. Forinstance, cell site 113 may receive a notification of a presence ofchannel sounder 120, may transmit to or receive from the channel sounder120 test channel sounding waveforms and/or characterization parameters,including timing information, signal bandwidth, signal power, carrieridentification(s), sub-band index/sub-carrier identification,sub-carrier density, and the like, may transmit the channel soundingwaveforms via the “channel” for which the channel property or propertiesis/are to be measured (e.g., a wideband transmission for carrieraggregation at the channel sounder 120), and so forth.

In addition, it should be noted that as used herein, the terms“configure,” and “reconfigure” may refer to programming or loading aprocessing system with computer-readable/computer-executableinstructions, code, and/or programs, e.g., in a distributed ornon-distributed memory, which when executed by a processor, orprocessors, of the processing system within a same device or withindistributed devices, may cause the processing system to perform variousfunctions. Such terms may also encompass providing variables, datavalues, tables, objects, or other data structures or the like which maycause a processing system executing computer-readable instructions,code, and/or programs to function differently depending upon the valuesof the variables or other data structures that are provided. As referredto herein a “processing system” may comprise a computing deviceincluding one or more processors, or cores (e.g., as illustrated in FIG.6 and discussed below) or multiple computing devices collectivelyconfigured to perform various steps, functions, and/or operations inaccordance with the present disclosure.

In one example, the channel sounder 120 may be used to determinemeasures of various wireless channel parameters (broadly “channelsounding”). In one example, channel sounder 120 may comprise a userequipment (UE), e.g., a mobile endpoint device comprising a cellulartelephone, a smartphone, a tablet computing device, a laptop computer,or any other cellular-capable mobile telephony and computing devices. Inone example, channel sounder 120 may comprise a dedicated channelsounding device.

In one example, the channel sounder 120 may be used to receive channelsounding waveforms that are transmitted in an environment, where thechannel sounding waveforms, as received, may be used to calculate ordetermine the measures of various wireless channel parameters such as:multipath amplitude(s), phase(s), direction(s) or angle(s) of arrival, apath loss, an excess delay, a RMS delay spread, a Doppler spread, a faderate, a complex impulse response of the wireless channel, and so forth.

In one example, the channel sounder 120 includes at least one phasedarray antenna that may provide a receive beam that may be steered invarious receive beam directions. In one example, the channel sounder 120may be equipped to receive channel sounding waveforms from a 5G basestation, e.g., cell site 113, via intra-band carrier aggregation,inter-band carrier aggregation or both and to measure channel propertiesat a given location, or at various locations, in accordance with thechannel sounding waveforms that are received. For instance, at a givenlocation, channel sounder 120 may calculate a phase difference betweenchannel sounding waveforms received via respective receive beamdirections. The processor unit may further determine an angle of arrival(AoA) based upon the receive beam directions and the phase difference.In one example, the channel sounder 120 may receive a reference copy orcopies of the channel sounding waveforms(s) and/or a set of parameterscharacterizing the channel sounding waveforms, from the transmitter(e.g., cell site 113). Accordingly, the channel sounder 120 maydetermine a carrier-to-interference (CIR) ratio by comparing a receivedsequence with a reference copy. Alternatively, or in addition, thechannel sounder 120 may calculate a path loss, an excess delay, a RMSdelay spread, a fade rate, a Doppler spread, a complex impulse response,or the like, from the digital representations of the channel soundingwaveforms.

In one example, the channel sounder 120 may perform further functions,including communicating with a transmitter-side device (e.g., cell site113) to coordinate the timing of the transmission of the channelsounding waveforms with activations and deactivations of antenna sectorunits, to receive reference copies of channel sounding waveforms thatare transmitted, and so forth. For instance, the channel sounder 120 maymaintain a communication link, such as via control signalingcommunications or an out-of band wireless link (e.g., using a differentset of antennas and a different RF communication band than the antennasector units that are used for channel sounding/channel propertymeasurements in accordance with the present disclosure) to communicatewith cell site 113.

In one example, the channel sounder 120 may comprise all or a portion ofa computing device or system, such as computing system 400, and/orprocessing system 402 as described in connection with FIG. 4 below, andmay be configured to provide one or more functions for channel soundingusing carrier aggregation, and for performing various other operationsin accordance with the present disclosure. For instance, channel sounder120 may be configured to perform functions such as those described belowin connection with the example method of FIG. 3. In addition, an examplechannel sounder (e.g., a receiver device, or UE) is described in greaterdetail below in connection with the example of FIG. 2.

In one example, channel sounding receiver may control a channel soundingvia an in-service base station, e.g., by instructing cell site 113 oranother channel sounding transmitter to begin transmission of channelsounding waveforms, by providing test copies and/or parameterscharacterizing the channel sounding waveforms, including bandwidth,periodicity, and bit sequences, and so forth. In addition, channelsounding receiver may obtain and store channel property measurements,and may perform additional operations based upon the channel propertymeasurements, such as determining locations and/or orientations fordeployment of customer premises equipment, e.g., for fixed wirelessbroadband (FWB), or the like. However, in another example, channelsounder 120 may be controlled by another device, such as cell site 113.For instance, channel sounder 120 may receive test copies orcharacterization parameters of channel sounding waveforms from cell site113, may measure channel properties in accordance with the test copiesor characterization parameters, and may transmit the measured channelproperties to cell site 113. For example, cell site 113 or anothercomponent of telecommunication network 170 may then aggregate channelproperty measures, and may determine locations and/or orientations fordeployment of customer premises equipment, e.g., for fixed wirelessbroadband (FWB), or the like, based upon the channel property measures,and so forth.

In one example, the EPC network 105 provides various functions thatsupport wireless services in the LTE environment. In one example, EPCnetwork 105 is an Internet Protocol (IP) packet core network thatsupports both real-time and non-real-time service delivery across a LTEnetwork, e.g., as specified by the 3GPP standards. In one example, allcell sites in the access network 103 are in communication with the EPCnetwork 105 via baseband units in BBU pool 114. In operation, mobileendpoint device UE 116 may access wireless services via the cell site111 and mobile endpoint device UE 117 may access wireless services viathe cell site 112 located in the access network 103. It should be notedthat any number of cell sites can be deployed in access network. In oneillustrative example, the access network 103 may comprise one or morecell sites.

In EPC network 105, network devices such as Mobility Management Entity(MME) 107 and Serving Gateway (SGW) 108 support various functions aspart of the cellular network 101. For example, MME 107 is the controlnode for the LTE access network. In one embodiment, MME 107 isresponsible for UE (User Equipment) tracking and paging (e.g., such asretransmissions), bearer activation and deactivation process, selectionof the SGW, and authentication of a user. In one embodiment, SGW 108routes and forwards user data packets, while also acting as the mobilityanchor for the user plane during inter-cell handovers and as the anchorfor mobility between LTE and other wireless technologies, such as 2G and3G wireless networks.

In addition, EPC network 105 may comprise a Home Subscriber Server (HSS)109 that contains subscription-related information (e.g., subscriberprofiles), performs authentication and authorization of a wirelessservice user, and provides information about the subscriber's location.The EPC network 105 may also comprise a packet data network (PDN)gateway 110 which serves as a gateway that provides access between theEPC network 105 and various data networks, e.g., service network 140,IMS core network 115, other network(s) 180, and the like. The packetdata network gateway is also referred to as a PDN gateway, a PDN GW or aPGW. In addition, the EPC network 105 may include a Diameter routingagent (DRA) 106, which may be engaged in the proper routing of messagesbetween other elements within EPC network 105, and with other componentsof the system 100, such as a call session control function (CSCF) (notshown) in IMS core network 115. For clarity, the connections between DRA106 and other components of EPC network 105 are omitted from theillustration of FIG. 1.

In one example, service network 140 may comprise one or more devices,such as application server (AS) 145 for providing services tosubscribers, customers, and or users. For example, telecommunicationservice provider network 170 may provide a cloud storage service, webserver hosting, and other services. As such, service network 140 mayrepresent aspects of telecommunication service provider network 170where infrastructure for supporting such services may be deployed. Inone example, AS 145 may comprise all or a portion of a computing deviceor system, such as computing system 400, and/or processing system 402 asdescribed in connection with FIG. 4 below, specifically configured toprovide one or more service functions in accordance with the presentdisclosure, such as a network-based secure data storage for channelsounding records (broadly “channel property measurements”). Forinstance, cell site 113 may collect channel property measurements fromchannel sounder 120 and may forward the channel property measurements toAS 145 for storage. Although a single application server, AS 145, isillustrated in service network 140, it should be understood that servicenetwork 140 may include any number of components to support one or moreservices that may be provided to one or more subscribers, customers, orusers by the telecommunication service provider network 170.

In one example, other networks 180 may represent one or more enterprisenetworks, a circuit switched network (e.g., a public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN)), a cable network, a digital subscriber line (DSL)network, a metropolitan area network (MAN), an Internet service provider(ISP) network, and the like. In one example, the other networks 180 mayinclude different types of networks. In another example, the othernetworks 180 may be the same type of network. In one example, the othernetworks 180 may represent the Internet in general.

In accordance with the present disclosure, any one or more of thecomponents of EPC network 105 may comprise network functionvirtualization infrastructure (NFVI), e.g., SDN host devices (i.e.,physical devices) configured to operate as various virtual networkfunctions (VNFs), such as a virtual MME (vMME), a virtual HHS (vHSS), avirtual serving gateway (vSGW), a virtual packet data network gateway(vPGW), and so forth. For instance, MME 107 may comprise a vMME, SGW 108may comprise a vSGW, and so forth. In this regard, the EPC network 105may be expanded (or contracted) to include more or less components thanthe state of EPC network 105 that is illustrated in FIG. 1. In thisregard, the EPC network 105 may also include a self-optimizing network(SON)/software defined network (SDN) controller 190. In one example,SON/SDN controller 190 may function as a self-optimizing network (SON)orchestrator that is responsible for activating and deactivating,allocating and deallocating, and otherwise managing a variety of networkcomponents. For instance, SON/SDN controller 190 may activate anddeactivate antennas/remote radio heads of cell sites 111 and 112,respectively, may allocate and deactivate baseband units in BBU pool114, and may perform other operations for activating antennas or thelike, in accordance with the present disclosure.

In one example, SON/SDN controller 190 may further comprise a SDNcontroller that is responsible for instantiating, configuring, managing,and releasing VNFs. For example, in a SDN architecture, a SDN controllermay instantiate VNFs on shared hardware, e.g., NFVI/host devices/SDNnodes, which may be physically located in various places. In oneexample, the configuring, releasing, and reconfiguring of SDN nodes iscontrolled by the SDN controller, which may store configuration codes,e.g., computer/processor-executable programs, instructions, or the likefor various functions which can be loaded onto an SDN node. In anotherexample, the SDN controller may instruct, or request an SDN node toretrieve appropriate configuration codes from a network-basedrepository, e.g., a storage device, to relieve the SDN controller fromhaving to store and transfer configuration codes for various functionsto the SDN nodes.

In accordance with the present disclosure, SON/SDN controller 190 maytherefore control various components within EPC network 105 and/orwithin access network 103 to support the traffic that is accommodated bythe activation of antennas/remote radio heads of cell sites 111 and 112,respectively and the allocation of baseband units in BBU pool 114. Forinstance, SON/SDN controller 190 (e.g., performing functions of a SONorchestrator) may activate an antenna of cell site 111 and assign abaseband unit in BBU pool 114 when a group of mobile endpoint devices isdetected near the cell site 111. SON/SDN controller 190 (e.g.,performing functions of a SDN controller) may further instantiate VNFsto function as routers, switches, gateways, and the like to ensure thatsufficient backhaul resources are available for the traffic to transitthe access network 103 and/or EPC network 105. In addition, as mentionedabove, any one or more of the DRA 106, MME 107, SGW 108, HSS 109, andPGW 110 may comprise VNFs instantiated on host devices. As such, SON/SDNcontroller 190 may perform similar operations to instantiate, configure,reconfigure, and decommission such components in support of examples ofthe present disclosure for activating antennas based upon a location anda movement of a group of mobile endpoint devices.

In one example, SON/SDN controller 190 may comprise all or a portion ofa computing device or system, such as computing system 400, and/orprocessing system 402 as described in connection with FIG. 4 below, andmay be configured to provide one or more functions to support examplesof the present disclosure for channel sounding using carrieraggregation, and for performing various other operations in accordancewith the present disclosure. For example, SON/SDN controller 190 mayensure that a cell site 111-113 and/or baseband unit of BBU pool 114 isprovisioned with configuration code which, when executed by a processingsystem of the respective component(s), cause various operations inconnection with the example of FIG. 3 to be performed. For instance,SON/SDN controller 190 may store such configuration code and provisionthe code to the respective component(s), or may direct the respectivecomponent(s) to obtain the configuration code from another repository.

Accordingly, the SON/SDN controller 190 may be connected directly orindirectly to any one or more network elements of EPC network 105, andof the system 100 in general. Due to the relatively large number ofconnections available between SON/SDN controller 190 and other networkelements, none of the actual links to the application server are shownin FIG. 1. Similarly, intermediate devices and links between DRA 106,MME 107, SGW 108, eNodeBs 111 and 112, PDN gateway 110, and othercomponents of system 100 are also omitted for clarity, such asadditional routers, switches, gateways, and the like.

As further illustrated in FIG. 1, EPC network 105 may further include anapplication server (AS) 130, which may comprise all or a portion of acomputing device or system, such as computing system 400, and/orprocessing system 402 as described in connection with FIG. 4 below, andmay be configured to perform various operations in connection withchannel sounding using carrier aggregation, and for performing variousother operations in accordance with the present disclosure. Forinstance, AS 130 may select channel sounding waveforms to be used forchannel property measurements, may provide the channel soundingwaveforms to base stations for transmission, may provide test copiesand/or characterization parameters of channel sounding waveforms tochannel sounding receivers, such as channel sounder 120, and so forth.In this regard, AS 130 may maintain communications with BBU pool 114,cell sites 111-113, channel sounder 120, and so forth, via PDN gateway110 and SGW 108, for example. AS 130 may also receive channel propertymeasurements from channel sounding receivers via respective basestations, and may perform other operations based upon the channelproperty measurements that are received. For instance, AS 130 may selecta location and/or orientation of a customer premises equipment (CPE),based upon the channel property measurements. For example, channelsounding via cell site 113 and channel sounder 120 may be performed atseveral candidate locations for a CPE, and a location (and/ororientation) with the highest signal to interference and noise ratio(SINR), may be selected. In one example, AS 130 may collect and storechannel property measurements locally, e.g., in an internal or attachedstorage device, or remotely, e.g., in a cloud based data storageinfrastructure, or the like. For instance, AS 130 may store the channelproperty measurements in AS 145 of service network 140, may retrieve thechannel property measurements to calculate a preferred CPE locationand/or orientation, or to perform other operations in accordance withthe present disclosure.

The foregoing description of the system 100 is provided as anillustrative example only. In other words, the example of system 100 ismerely illustrative of one network configuration that is suitable forimplementing embodiments of the present disclosure. As such, otherlogical and/or physical arrangements for the system 100 may beimplemented in accordance with the present disclosure. For example, thesystem 100 may be expanded to include additional networks, such asnetwork operations center (NOC) networks, additional access networks,and so forth. The system 100 may also be expanded to include additionalnetwork elements such as border elements, routers, switches, policyservers, security devices, gateways, a content distribution network(CDN) and the like, without altering the scope of the presentdisclosure. In addition, system 100 may be altered to omit variouselements, substitute elements for devices that perform the same orsimilar functions, combine elements that are illustrated as separatedevices, and/or implement network elements as functions that are spreadacross several devices that operate collectively as the respectivenetwork elements. For instance, in one example, SON/SDN controller 190may be spilt into separate components to operate as a SON orchestratorand a SDN controller, respectively. Similarly, although the SON/SDNcontroller 190 is illustrated as a component of EPC network 105, inanother example SON/SDN controller 190, and/or other network componentsmay be deployed in an IMS core network 115 instead of being deployedwithin the EPC network 105, or in other portions of system 100 that arenot shown, while providing essentially the same functionality.Similarly, functions described herein with respect to AS 130 mayalternatively or additional be provided by AS 145.

It should also be noted that the foregoing is described primarily inconnection with examples where channel sounding is performed withrespect to cell site 113 and channel sounder 120. However, in other,further, and different examples, channel sounding may be performed atcell site 111 or cell site 112. For instance, channel sounder 120 may bedeployed within communication and/or reception range of cell site 111 orcell site 112, and channel sounding waveforms may be transmitted by cellsite 111 or cell site 112, respectively. In addition, although channelsounder 120 comprises a dedicated channel sounding receiver in oneexample, it should be noted that examples of the present disclosure mayalso utilize UE 116, UE 117 or other mobile endpoint devices as achannel sounding receiver. For instance, UE 116 and/or UE 117 mayinclude a MIMO antenna to receive multi-path and/or spatial diversitysignals, a GPS to determine location(s), a gyroscope and compass todetermine orientation(s), and so forth. Thus, in one example, UE 116and/or UE 117 may comprise all or a portion of a computing device orsystem, such as computing system 400, and/or processing system 402 asdescribed in connection with FIG. 4 below, and may be configured toperform various operations for channel sounding using carrieraggregation, and for performing various other operations in accordancewith the present disclosure.

In addition, although aspects of the present disclosure have beendiscussed above in the context of a long term evolution (LTE)-based corenetwork (e.g., EPC network 105), examples of the present disclosure arenot so limited. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the cellularnetwork 101 may represent a “non-stand alone” (NSA) mode architecturewhere 5G radio access network components, such as a “new radio” (NR),“gNodeB” (or “gNB”), and so forth are supported by a 4G/LTE core network(e.g., a Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network 105). However, in anotherexample, system 100 may instead comprise a 5G “standalone” (SA) modepoint-to-point or service-based architecture where components andfunctions of EPC network 105 are replaced by a 5G core network, whichmay include an access and mobility management function (AMF), a userplane function (UPF), a session management function (SMF), a policycontrol function (PCF), a unified data management function (UDM), anauthentication server function (AUSF), an application function (AF), anetwork repository function (NRF), and so on. For instance, in such anetwork, application server (AS) 130 of FIG. 1 may represent anapplication function (AF) for managing channel sounding via anin-service base station in accordance with various examples of thepresent disclosure. In addition, any one or more of cell sites 111-113may comprise 2G, 3G, 4G and/or LTE radios, e.g., in addition to 5G newradio (NR) functionality. For instance, in non-standalone (NSA) modearchitecture, LTE radio equipment may continue to be used for cellsignaling and management communications, while user data may rely upon a5G new radio (NR), including millimeter wave communications, forexample. Thus, these and other modifications are all contemplated withinthe scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a portion of an example receiver device 200 (e.g., achannel sounder and/or or UE that is equipped for channel sounding usingcarrier aggregation), in accordance with the present disclosure. Asillustrated in FIG. 2, a receiver device 200 includes a phased arrayantenna 250 having a plurality of antenna elements 255. The phased arrayantenna 250 may be coupled to a radio frequency (RF) front end 240. RFfront end 240 may comprise a circuit between the phased array antenna250 and a baseband unit 230 (e.g., a 5G radio receiver, or transceiver).In the example of FIG. 2, the RF front end 240 includes a plurality offilters 243 (e.g., band-pass filters), a plurality of low noiseamplifiers 242, and plurality of variable phase shifters 241, e.g., oneper antenna element. It should be noted that phased array antenna 250may comprise a two-dimensional grid of antenna elements 255. However,for illustrative purposes, only a portion of the RF front end associatedwith four of the antenna elements 255 is shown in FIG. 2. The pluralityof variable phase shifters 241 may output signals to a combined signalpath that is fed to a diplexer 260. In one example, the diplexer filtersthe received RF signals with respect to a first frequency band (e.g.,band 1) and a second frequency band (e.g., band 2). In one example, thereceiver device 200 may control the plurality of variable phase shifters241 to steer a receive beam across a range of receive beam directions inazimuth and elevation.

It should be noted that in the present example, band 1 and band 2 may becontiguous bands in frequency such that a shared RF front end 240 may beused with filters 243 that are applicable to both band 1 and band 2.However, in one example, other frequency bands that are not contiguousor which are too far apart in frequency (such as a “band 3”) may stillbe received via the phased array antenna 250 and antenna elements 255,but may be received and processed via a different RF front end 249.

Baseband unit 230 may include a plurality of receive paths (e.g.,receive paths 1-4 (231-234)). Each of the receive paths may include arespective local oscillator (LO) 271-274, a respective RF-to-basebanddownconverter 261-264 (e.g., a multiplier), a respectiveanalog-to-digital converter 281-284, and a respective discrete Fouriertransform (DFT) block 291-294. Each of the RF-to-baseband downconverters261-264 is controlled by an associated local oscillator (LO) 271-274 todown-convert received RF signals to a baseband frequency range. In oneexample, the respective local oscillators (LOs) 271-274 are tuned forthe respective component carriers that are associated with, or assignedto each of the receive paths 231-234. The RF-to-baseband downconverters261-264 feed ADCs 281-284, respectively. ADCs 281-284 may sample theanalog baseband signals to output digital baseband signals. Forinstance, ADCs 281-284 may oversample the analog baseband signals atsampling intervals under the control of timing signals from a clockcircuit (e.g., including a rubidium reference clock or the like) tocreate per-carrier time domain sample sets that represent the channelsounding waveform.

ADCs 281-284 may feed the DFT blocks 291-294 respectively. In oneexample, the DFT blocks 291-294 process the per-carrier time domainsample sets (e.g., a discrete Fourier transform operation is applied) togenerate per-carrier frequency domain sample sets. As illustrated inFIG. 2, the DFT blocks 291-294 may output the per-carrier frequencydomain sample sets to a processor unit 210 that is configured to performvarious operations for determining measures of wireless channelparameters, as described herein. For example, for each channel soundingwaveform that is received, processor unit 210 may align the per-carriertime domain sample sets in gain and phase. For instance, where thecomponent carriers are contiguous in frequency, the per-carrier timedomain sample sets for the contiguous/adjacent component carriers shouldbe aligned in gain and phase. Thus, the processor unit 210 may correctfor any misalignments at the frequency edges of the component carriersand output a combined frequency domain sample set that is representativeof the wideband channel sounding waveform that is received via phasedarray antenna 250. In one example, channel properties may be measured orcalculated in the frequency domain, e.g., using the combined frequencydomain sample set (or multiple successive combined frequency domainsample sets). Alternatively, or in addition, the combined frequencydomain sample set may be processed via an inverse discrete Fouriertransform block (IDFT) (not shown) to provide a combined time domainsample set that is that is representative of the wideband channelsounding waveform that is received. In such an example, processor unit210 may then calculate, based upon the digital representations of thechannel sounding waveform in the time domain, various channel propertymeasures.

To illustrate, the processor unit 210 may calculate, based upon thedigital representations of the channel sounding waveforms, variousmeasurements of wireless channel parameters, such as: a complex impulseresponse, a path loss, an RSS, a CIR, an excess delay, an RMS delayspread, an angular spread, a Doppler spread, a fade rate, an AoA, and soforth. In one example, the processor unit 210 may receive a referencecopy or copies of the channel sounding waveform(s), from a 5G basestation transmitter. Accordingly, the processor unit 210 may determine acomplex impulse response, a path loss, an RSS, a CIR, an excess delay,an RMS delay spread, an angular spread, a Doppler spread, a fade rate,an AoA, and so forth by comparing the digital representation of thechannel sounding waveform received via phased array antenna 250 with areference copy. In one example, the processor unit 210 may comprise allor a portion of a computing device or system, such as system 400, and/orprocessor 402 as described in connection with FIG. 4 below.

In one example, the processor unit 210 may perform further functions,such as communicating with the 5G base station transmitter to receivereference copies of channel sounding waveforms or characterizationparameters of the channel sounding waveform(s) that are transmitted. Thecharacterization parameters may include: a transmit power, awaveform/sequence indication, a timing indication (e.g., transmissionduration, periodicity, offset, and the like), a frequency location (e.g.carrier identification(s), sub-band index, sub-carrier density, gridalignment, transmission bandwidth), and so forth. As just one example, aprimary synchronization signal (PSS) of a synchronization signaling (SS)block is extended in frequency to create a wideband signal withoutchanging the narrowband part of the PSS which a UE would expect (e.g.,if the UE is operating according to 5G or similar wirelesscommunications standard that specifies a narrowband PSS). Theseparameters may be provided by higher layer signaling (e.g., at the radioresource control (RRC) layer), via pre-configuration, or at theapplication layer.

In one example, the processor unit 210 may communicate with the 5G basestation transmitter to coordinate the timing of the transmission of thechannel sounding waveforms. For instance, some of the channel soundingwaveforms may comprise broadcast signals and/or reference signals thatare transmitted regardless of the presence of processor unit 210.However, other channel sounding waveforms may be transmitted on aphysical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), in a blank resource of a timeand frequency resource grid of the 5G base station transmitter, and soforth. Accordingly, in one example, processor unit 210 may request“on-demand” transmission of channel sounding waveforms. Thus, thenetwork may conserve resources and mitigate potential sources ofinterference for other user data by avoiding transmission of the channelsounding waveform/sequences unless receiver device 200, or anotherchannel sounding receiver device, is present and actively takingmeasurements.

In one example, processor unit 210 may adjust the phase delays ofvariable phase shifters 241 via control lines 290. In one example, thepass band of filters 243 may also be controlled via control lines 290.The control of these elements of RF front end 240 may be based upon thevarious criteria, including the known or expected bit sequences of thechannel sounding waveform(s) and/or other characterization parameters ofthe channel sounding waveform(s). In one example, the processor unit 210may also configure components of baseband unit 230, such as ADCs 281-284and/or local oscillators 271-274, to function in a particular manner,e.g., based upon the characterization parameters and the expectedcharacteristics of the channel sounding waveform(s) that are received.

In one example, certain measurements of wireless channel parameters maybe determined in baseband unit 230, e.g., as an alternative or inaddition to determining measurements of wireless channel parameters byprocessor unit 210. For instance, baseband unit 230 may include aprogrammable logic device (PLD), such as a field programmable gate array(FPGA), or the like. Accordingly, in one example, the baseband unit 230may be configured to determine measurements of one or more wirelesschannel parameters. In such an example, the baseband unit 230 mayforward measurements of one or more wireless channel parameters toprocessor unit 210, e.g., for further tagging with location and/orspatial orientation information.

It should also be noted that FIG. 2 illustrates one receive path ofdevice 200 that includes phased array antenna 250. However, device 200may include a plurality of additional phased array antennas, RF frontends, and baseband units coupled to processor unit 210 that are the sameor substantially similar to the portion of device 200 illustrated inFIG. 2. Thus, processor unit 210 may also control aspects of other RFfront ends to steer receive beams via respective phased array antennas,to digitally sample baseband down-converted signals based upon thecharacterization of the channel sounding waveform(s), to createper-carrier time domain and frequency domain sample sets, to performgain and phase alignment to generate combined sample sets, and so forth.

It should also be noted that the example of FIG. 2 provides just oneexample of a receive path of a receiver device in accordance with thepresent disclosure. For example, another receiver device may be utilizedthat includes a different RF front end with switches, duplexers, and thelike. In one example, the antenna elements 255 may comprise dualpolarization antenna elements. However, for ease of illustration, theportion of device 200 depicted in FIG. 2 may be related to one of thepolarizations. Similarly, a receive portion of device 200 is illustratedin FIG. 2. However, it should be understood that in one example,receiver device 200 may also include transmit/uplink components. Thus,these and other modifications are all contemplated within the scope ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 300 for channelsounding using carrier aggregation, in accordance with the presentdisclosure. In one example, steps, functions and/or operations of themethod 300 may be performed by a receiver device as illustrated in FIG.1, e.g., a channel sounding receiver, a mobile endpoint device, and/or aUE, or any one or more components thereof, such as a processing system,a USB cellular dongle, a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit, a phasedarray antenna, and so forth. In one example, the steps, functions, oroperations of method 300 may be performed by a computing device orsystem 400, and/or a processing system 402 as described in connectionwith FIG. 4 below. For instance, the computing device 400 may representat least a portion of a channel sounding receiver in accordance with thepresent disclosure. For illustrative purposes, the method 300 isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with an exampleperformed by a processing system, such as processing system 402. Themethod 300 begins in step 305 and may proceed to any of optional steps310-330, or to step 340.

At optional step 310, the processing system (e.g., of a channel soundingreceiver) may transmit to a base station, a notification that thechannel sounding receiver is ready to measure a channel property. Thebase station may comprise a 5G base station, e.g., a gNodeB (alsoreferred to a gNB or “new radio”). The notification may include aninstruction to transmit a channel sounding waveform via a plurality ofcarriers (e.g., two or more component carriers within a same frequencyband or in different frequency bands). In one example, the instructionmay further include characterization parameters of the channel soundingwaveform. The characterization parameters may include: a transmit power,a waveform/sequence indication, a timing indication (e.g., transmissionduration, periodicity, offset, and the like), a frequency location (e.g.carrier identification(s), sub-band index, sub-carrier density, gridalignment, transmission bandwidth), and so forth.

In one example, the notification is sent via at least one of: radioresource control signaling, preconfiguration signaling, or applicationlayer signaling. In one example, the notification is sent viaout-of-band signaling. For example, a first portion of the base stationmay comprise 3GPP 5G infrastructure and a second portion of the basestation comprises 3G, 4G, or 4G/LTE infrastructure. In addition, thechannel sounding of the method 300 may be with respect to a 5G channelusing the first portion of the base station. In such case, theout-of-band signaling may be using the second portion of the basestation (e.g., 3G, 4G, or 4G/LTE infrastructure). The use of theprevious generation cellular infrastructure (e.g., LTE) for signalingextends the measurement range beyond what would typically be used tosupport user data per 5G (e.g., millimeter wave frequencies for fixedwireless broadband (FWB) for example. In one example, the out-of-bandsignaling could also be through Wi-Fi or WiMAX (if the base station andchannel sounding receiver are both so equipped).

At optional step 320, the processing system may receive characterizationparameters of the channel sounding waveform from the base station. Thecharacterization parameters may be provided via radio resource controlsignaling, preconfiguration signaling, application layer signaling,and/or out-of-band signaling. In one example, the characterizationparameters may be the same as or similar to those described above inconnection with optional step 310. It should be noted that in oneexample, a channel sounding process of the method 300 is controlled bythe receiver device, while in another example, the channel soundingprocess is controlled by the base station. Thus, in one example,characterization parameters may be selected by the receiver device andincluded in the characterization parameters of the notification ofoptional step 310, or may be selected by the base station andtransmitted as characterization parameters at optional step 320.

At step 330, the processing system receives, from the base station, at alocation, a channel sounding waveform via a plurality of carriers. Theplurality of carriers may comprise adjacent carriers in a frequencyband. Alternatively, or in addition, the plurality of carriers maycomprise adjacent carriers from different frequency bands. In stillanother example, the plurality of carriers may comprise non-adjacentcarriers from within the same frequency band or from different frequencybands. In one example, each of the plurality of carriers occupies abandwidth of 200 MHz or less while the channel sounding waveform mayoccupy a bandwidth of at least 400 MHz. In one example, the channelsounding waveform comprises at least one time/frequency resource blockof a time and frequency resource grid implemented at the base station.For example, the channel sounding waveform may comprise, a referencesignal, a frequency-extended synchronization signal (e.g., a PSS or thelike that is extended beyond a narrowband 40 MHz frequency range of anSS block), a signal transmitted via a physical downlink shared channel(PDSCH), or a signal transmitted via a blank resource of a time andfrequency resource grid of the base station.

In one example, the processing system may tune an antenna receiversystem to receive the channel sounding waveform via a predeterminedpattern. For instance, the processing system may align a receiver withthe frequency sub-carrier(s) at the time(s) corresponding to thetime/frequency resource(s) identified in the characterization parameterssent at optional step 310 or received at optional step 320, may steer areceiver gain pattern, and so forth. In another example, the processingsystem may attempt to blindly detect the channel sounding waveform andupon successfully processing a transport block matching thepreconfigured sounding signal characteristics (e.g., after a cyclicredundancy check (CRC) pass detection), proceed to process the sequenceas part of its configured channel sounding measurement procedure. In oneexample, the receiver device includes an RF front end that is arrangedfor intra-band carrier aggregation and inter-band carrier aggregation.

At step 340, the processing system samples the channel sounding waveformvia the plurality of carriers to generate a plurality of per-carriertime domain sample sets. In one example, the receiver device includes abaseband units that includes a plurality of receive paths. In oneexample, each of the receive paths may include a respective localoscillator, a respective RF-to-baseband downconverter, a respectiveanalog-to-digital converter (ADC), and a respective discrete Fouriertransform (DFT) block. In one example, the sampling the channel soundingwaveform via the plurality of carriers at step 340 is performed via theplurality of analog-to-digital converters. For example, theRF-to-baseband downconverters in conjunction with the local oscillatorsmay generate analog baseband signals to provide to the respective ADCs.The ADCs may therefore sample the analog baseband signals to outputdigital baseband signals. For instance, the ADCs may oversample theanalog baseband signals at sampling intervals under the control oftiming signals from a clock circuit (e.g., including a rubidiumreference clock or the like) to create per-carrier time domain samplesets that represent the channel sounding waveform.

At step 350, the processing system processes the per-carrier time domainsample sets via a plurality of discrete Fourier transform modules. Inother words, a discrete Fourier transform operation is applied to theper-carrier time domain sample sets associated with each of theplurality of carriers. Accordingly, the result of step 350 may comprisea plurality of per-carrier frequency domain sample sets that are outputsof the respective discrete Fourier transform operations. As mentionedabove, the receiver device may include respective receive paths for eachof the component carriers, each of which may include one of the discreteFourier transform modules.

At step 360, the processing system aligns the plurality of per-carrierfrequency domain sample sets in gain and phase, wherein the aligningprovides a combined frequency domain sample set. For instance, where thecomponent carriers are contiguous in frequency, the per-carrier timedomain sample sets for the contiguous/adjacent component carriers shouldbe aligned in gain and phase. Thus, the processing system may correctfor any misalignments at the frequency edges of the component carriersand output a combined frequency domain sample set that is representativeof the wideband channel sounding waveform that is received.

At step 370, the processing system measures the channel property at thelocation based upon the combined frequency domain sample set (and in oneexample, further based upon the characterization parameters). In oneexample, channel properties may be measured or calculated in thefrequency domain, e.g., using the combined frequency domain sample set(or multiple successive combined frequency domain sample sets).Alternatively, or in addition, the combined frequency domain sample setmay be processed via an inverse discrete Fourier transform block (IDFT)to provide a combined time domain sample set that is that isrepresentative of the wideband channel sounding waveform that isreceived. In such an example, the processing system may then calculate,based upon the digital representations of the channel sounding waveformin the time domain, various channel property measures.

Various channel properties as described above may be measured at step370, such as a complex impulse response, a path loss, an RSS, a CIR, anexcess delay, an RMS delay spread, an angular spread, a Doppler spread,a fade rate, an AoA, and so forth. In one example, the processing systemmay receive a reference copy or copies of the channel soundingwaveform(s), from a 5G base station transmitter or may receive orpossess characterization parameters that define the channel soundingwaveform(s). Accordingly, the processing system may determine a compleximpulse response, a path loss, an RSS, a CIR, an excess delay, an RMSdelay spread, an angular spread, a Doppler spread, a fade rate, an AoA,and so forth by comparing the frequency and/or time domain digitalrepresentation(s) of the channel sounding waveform with a referencecopy. In one example, the measuring the channel property may be based onthe characterization parameters of the channel sounding waveform. Forinstance, the processing system may use the characterization parametersin comparison to a received channel sounding waveform to determine oneor more channel properties. The channel property may be associated withvarious layers of the receiver protocol stack. For instance, in oneexample, the channel property may be associated with the physical layerand does not require that the processing system decipher any particularbit pattern of the channel sounding waveform.

In addition, in one example, the processing system may determine thelocation or geographic position of the receiver device via a GlobalPositioning System (GPS). Alternatively, or in addition, a location maybe derived using other location estimation methods, such as cellidentifier (cell ID) based methods, observed time difference of arrival(OTDA) techniques, or barycentric triangulation. In one example, theprocessing system may also associate a channel property measurement witha particular orientation, allowing the receiver device to determine areceive beam direction/spatial orientation, and to therefore measurewireless channel parameters with high spatial accuracy. For instance,the channel sounding receiver may include a gyroscope and compass, orthe like, and may determine a particular orientation of a multi-pathsignal, may determine a direction of a maximum received signal strength,and so forth.

In one example, the processing system may record receive beam directionswith respect to a local coordinate system that is aligned to a chassisof the receiver device (and thus known to the processing systemaccording to the specific design). In one example, the processing systemmay then map or translate receive beam directions in the localcoordinate system into a global coordinate system. For instance, aglobal coordinate system may have two dimensions corresponding to aplanar estimation of the surface of the Earth (e.g., a “u” axis and “v”axis), with the third dimension (e.g., a “w” axis) being normal to theplane. In addition, the planar estimation of the surface of the Earthcan also be aligned such that one dimension is north-south (e.g., the“v” axis) and another dimension is east-west (e.g., the “u” axis).Accordingly, the orientations of three axis of the local coordinatesystem relative to the (u, v, w) axis of global coordinate system may bedetermined from a gyroscope and compass of the receiver device.

At optional step 380, the processing system may transmit the channelproperty and an identification of the location to the base station. Inone example, spatial orientation information (e.g., angle of arrivaland/or a receive beam direction associated with the channel propertymeasurement) may also be transmitted to the base station. For instance,in one example, a channel sounding process according to the method 300may be controlled by a base station. In such an example, the processingsystem of the receiver device may receive the channel sounding waveformand measure the channel property or properties. However, the basestation (or other network-based devices) may perform automated actionsbased upon the channel property measurements, such as determiningwhether location is a candidate for a deployment of a customer premises,determining whether to activate and deactivate base stationantennas/remote radio heads, baseband units in a BBU pool, and so on.Following step 370 or optional step 380, the method 300 proceeds to step395 where the method ends.

It should be noted that the method 300 may be expanded to includeadditional steps or may be modified to include additional operationswith respect to the steps outlined above. For example, the method 300may be repeated through various cycles of channel property measurements.For instance, the processing system may receive multiple channelsounding waveforms at a location via different receive beam directions,at different times, and so on. Thus, in one example, the receiving andmeasuring may be performed over multiple channel sounding waveformbursts (e.g., for as many bursts as the channel sounding receiverselects, for as many receive beam directions as the channel soundingreceiver wants to obtain measurements, for as many reference signalsweeps of the base station as the channel sounding receiver isconfigured or programmed to wait for, and so on). Thus, these and othermodification are all contemplated within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

In addition, although not specifically specified, one or more steps,functions or operations of the method 300 may include a storing,displaying and/or outputting step as required for a particularapplication. In other words, any data, records, fields, and/orintermediate results discussed in the method can be stored, displayedand/or outputted either on the device executing the method or to anotherdevice, as required for a particular application. Furthermore, steps,blocks, functions or operations in FIG. 3 that recite a determiningoperation or involve a decision do not necessarily require that bothbranches of the determining operation be practiced. In other words, oneof the branches of the determining operation can be deemed as anoptional step. Furthermore, steps, blocks, functions or operations ofthe above described method(s) can be combined, separated, and/orperformed in a different order from that described above, withoutdeparting from the example examples of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 depicts a high-level block diagram of a computing device orprocessing system specifically programmed to perform the functionsdescribed herein. As depicted in FIG. 4, the processing system 400comprises one or more hardware processor elements 402 (e.g., a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, or a multi-core processor), amemory 404 (e.g., random access memory (RAM) and/or read only memory(ROM)), a module 405 for channel sounding using carrier aggregation, andvarious input/output devices 406 (e.g., storage devices, including butnot limited to, a tape drive, a floppy drive, a hard disk drive or acompact disk drive, a receiver, a transmitter, a speaker, a display, aspeech synthesizer, an output port, an input port and a user inputdevice (such as a keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a microphone and thelike)). In accordance with the present disclosure input/output devices406 may also include antenna elements, antenna arrays, remote radioheads (RRHs), baseband units (BBUs), transceivers, power units, and soforth. Although only one processor element is shown, it should be notedthat the computing device may employ a plurality of processor elements.Furthermore, although only one computing device is shown in the figure,if the method 300 as discussed above is implemented in a distributed orparallel manner for a particular illustrative example, i.e., where thesteps of the above method 300 are implemented across multiple orparallel computing devices, e.g., a processing system, then thecomputing device of this figure is intended to represent each of thosemultiple computing devices.

Furthermore, one or more hardware processors can be utilized insupporting a virtualized or shared computing environment. Thevirtualized computing environment may support one or more virtualmachines representing computers, servers, or other computing devices. Insuch virtualized virtual machines, hardware components such as hardwareprocessors and computer-readable storage devices may be virtualized orlogically represented. The hardware processor 402 can also be configuredor programmed to cause other devices to perform one or more operationsas discussed above. In other words, the hardware processor 402 may servethe function of a central controller directing other devices to performthe one or more operations as discussed above.

It should be noted that the present disclosure can be implemented insoftware and/or in a combination of software and hardware, e.g., usingapplication specific integrated circuits (ASIC), a programmable gatearray (PGA) including a Field PGA, or a state machine deployed on ahardware device, a computing device or any other hardware equivalents,e.g., computer readable instructions pertaining to the method discussedabove can be used to configure a hardware processor to perform thesteps, functions and/or operations of the above disclosed method 300. Inone example, instructions and data for the present module or process 405for channel sounding using carrier aggregation (e.g., a software programcomprising computer-executable instructions) can be loaded into memory404 and executed by hardware processor element 402 to implement thesteps, functions or operations as discussed above in connection with theillustrative method 300. Furthermore, when a hardware processor executesinstructions to perform “operations,” this could include the hardwareprocessor performing the operations directly and/or facilitating,directing, or cooperating with another hardware device or component(e.g., a co-processor and the like) to perform the operations.

The processor executing the computer readable or software instructionsrelating to the above described method can be perceived as a programmedprocessor or a specialized processor. As such, the present module 405for channel sounding using carrier aggregation (including associateddata structures) of the present disclosure can be stored on a tangibleor physical (broadly non-transitory) computer-readable storage device ormedium, e.g., volatile memory, non-volatile memory, ROM memory, RAMmemory, magnetic or optical drive, device or diskette and the like.Furthermore, a “tangible” computer-readable storage device or mediumcomprises a physical device, a hardware device, or a device that isdiscernible by the touch. More specifically, the computer-readablestorage device may comprise any physical devices that provide theability to store information such as data and/or instructions to beaccessed by a processor or a computing device such as a computer or anapplication server.

While various examples have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of illustration only,and not a limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of any aspect of thepresent disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-describedexamples, but should be defined only in accordance with the followingclaims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, from a basestation by a processing system of a channel sounding receiver includingat least one processor, at a location, a channel sounding waveform via aplurality of carriers; sampling, by the processing system, the channelsounding waveform via the plurality of carriers to generate a pluralityof per-carrier time domain sample sets; processing, by the processingsystem, the plurality of per-carrier time domain sample sets via atleast one transform module, wherein the processing provides a pluralityof per-carrier frequency domain sample sets; aligning, by the processingsystem, the plurality of per-carrier frequency domain sample sets ingain and phase, wherein the aligning provides a combined frequencydomain sample set; and measuring, by the processing system, a channelproperty at the location based upon the combined frequency domain sampleset.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting thechannel property and an identification of the location to the basestation.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of carriers isassociated with a plurality of receive paths of a baseband unit of thechannel sounding receiver.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein thesampling the channel sounding waveform via the plurality of carriers isperformed via analog-to-digital converters of the plurality of receivepaths of the baseband unit.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving characterization parameters of the channelsounding waveform from the base station, wherein the measuring of thechannel property is further based on the characterization parameters ofthe channel sounding waveform.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein thecharacterization parameters include: an identification of the pluralityof carriers.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the characterizationparameters include: a sub-carrier density of the plurality of carriers.8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, by theprocessing system to the base station, a notification that the channelsounding receiver is ready to measure the channel property.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the notification includes an instruction totransmit the channel sounding waveform via the plurality of carriers,wherein the instruction includes characterization parameters of thechannel sounding waveform, and wherein the measuring of the channelproperty is further based on the characterization parameters of thechannel sounding waveform.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the basestation comprises a gNodeB.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein theplurality of carriers comprises adjacent carriers in a frequency band.12. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of carriers comprisesadjacent carriers from different frequency bands.
 13. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the channel sounding waveform occupies a bandwidth ofat least 400 MHz.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein each of theplurality of carriers occupies a bandwidth of 200 MHz or less.
 15. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the channel sounding waveform comprises: atleast one time/frequency resource block of a time and frequency resourcegrid implemented at the base station.
 16. The method of claim 1, whereinthe channel sounding waveform comprises: a reference signal; afrequency-extended synchronization signal; a signal transmitted via aphysical downlink shared channel; or a signal transmitted via a blankresource of a time and frequency resource grid of the base station. 17.The method of claim 1, wherein the channel sounding receiver includes aradio frequency front end that is arranged for intra-band carrieraggregation and inter-band carrier aggregation.
 18. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by aprocessing system of a channel sounding receiver including at least oneprocessor, cause the processing system to perform operations, theoperations comprising: receiving, from a base station, at a location, achannel sounding waveform via a plurality of carriers; sampling thechannel sounding waveform via the plurality of carriers to generate aplurality of per-carrier time domain sample sets; processing theplurality of per-carrier time domain sample sets via at least onetransform module, wherein the processing provides a plurality ofper-carrier frequency domain sample sets; aligning the plurality ofper-carrier frequency domain sample sets in gain and phase, wherein thealigning provides a combined frequency domain sample set; and measuringa channel property at the location based upon the combined frequencydomain sample set.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 18, the operations further comprising: transmitting the channelproperty and an identification of the location to the base station. 20.A device comprising: a processing system including at least oneprocessor; and a computer-readable medium storing instructions which,when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system toperform operations, the operations comprising: receiving, from a basestation, at a location, a channel sounding waveform via a plurality ofcarriers; sampling the channel sounding waveform via the plurality ofcarriers to generate a plurality of per-carrier time domain sample sets;processing the plurality of per-carrier time domain sample sets via atleast one transform module, wherein the processing provides a pluralityof per-carrier frequency domain sample sets; aligning the plurality ofper-carrier frequency domain sample sets in gain and phase, wherein thealigning provides a combined frequency domain sample set; and measuringa channel property at the location based upon the combined frequencydomain sample set.